Tension-regulating device for spindle-driving bands



(No Model.)

A. MCDONALD.

TENSION REGULATING DEVICE FOR SPINDLE DRIVING BANDS. No. 363,405;

Patented May 24, 1887..

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ARTHUR MCDONALD, OF HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS.

TENSION-REGULATING DEVICE FOR SPlNDLE-DRIVING BANDS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 368,405, dated May 24,1887.

Application filed December 27, 1886. Serial No. 222,616. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

t Be it known that I, ARTHUR MeDoNALD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Holyoke, in the county of Hampden and State ofMassachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements inTension-Regulating Devices for Spindle-Driving Bands, of which thefollowing is a specification.

Thisinvention relates to spinningmachines, andpertains to improvedtension-regulating devices to be used in connection with the endlessband of a spinning-machine, which drives all or nearly all of thespindles thereof; and the invention consistsin the peculiar constructionand arrangement of said tensionregulating devices in combination withsaid endless band.

In the drawings forming part of this speci fication, Figure 1 is a planview of portions of the frame of a spinning-machine having appliedthereto spindle-driving mechanism constructed according to my invention.Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the devices which govern the tension ofthe spindle-band, and is hereinafter fully described.

In the drawings, 2 indicates portions of the frame of aspinning-machine, and 3 the bolster-rail thereof. A shaft, 4, havingsuitable bearings in said frame parts 2,has fixed thereon a series ofgrooved pulleys, a, which serve to drive the spindles 5, as belowdescribed.

Portions of the central part of the frame 2 extend rearwardly, as shown,and are provided with boxes 15, in which the drivingshaft 8 of themachine runs, actuated by a suitable belt applied to a driving-pulley,9, fixed on said shaft. Said driving-shaft 8 is provided with alongitudinal groove, 14, and has thereon two beveled gears, 10 and 12,in each of the hubs of which is a set-screw, 13. Said set-screws passthrough one side of said hub, and their points enter the said groove 14,thereby securing said beveled gears on said shaft, so that they rotatetherewith, and

said groove provides means for moving said gears on the shaft, so thateither one of them may be brought into engagement with a pinion on theend of the intermediate shaft, 7, which is hung in suitable bearingsconnected with said frame 2, and a pinion on the opposite end of saidshaft 7 engages with a beveled gear, 2, on the said spindledriving shaft4.

With the beveled gears 10 and 12 in the posi tions on the shaft 8 shownin Fig. 1, the

shaft 4 and the spindles 5 are rotated in one u direction; but theirdirection of rotation is reversed by loosening the set-screw of gear 12and moving the latter out of engagement with said pinion on the shaft 7,and by moving the gear 10 into engagement with said pinion and securingsaid gear in that position.

The above-described simple means for re-' versing the rotation of thespindles of spinning-machines is of great convenience, practically, forreversing the twist of yarns, and is easily manipulated.

The said grooved pulleys a are provided on the spindledriving shaft 4for driving the spindles, instead of the usual drum, for the reason thatthe spindle-band adheres better to said pulleys than to a drum, andconsequently said band can be run with said pulleys under a moremoderate tension, thereby avoiding such strain upon the spindle-bearingsas ere ates an inconvenient friction and increases the power required todrive the machine.

Instead of using a driving-pulley, a, and a separate band connectedtherewith and with each spindle, I employ, in combination with thebelt-tension devices below described, the series of pulleys a, as shown,and a single endless band, 17, of any suitable material, which engageswith a guide-pulley, 6, at each end of that part of the frame 2 in whicheach series of spindles 5 is located, as shown, said band passingalternately around the whirls c of the spindles and said pulleys a, asshown, said driving-band being then carried around an idler-pulley, 20,which rotates by said belt on the belt-tension devices 16, which aresecured on any suitable support at the rear of the driving-shaft 4. Thesaid belt-tension devices are illustrated in Fig. 2, and they consist ofa me tallic box, 18, having a projecting part, d, which provides meansfor attaching it to said support, in which boX is a rack, 19, which isadapted to slide longitudinally therein, and 011 which is pivoted thesaid idler-pulley 20. A shaft, 22, passes through said box 18 to oneside of said rack, and has a pinion, 21, thereon, which engages with thelatter. Aspiral spring, 23, is coiled around said shaft 22, and one endthereof is attached to the box 18 and one end to said shaft. When theband 17 is placed on the idler-pulley 20, the latter, together with therack 19, is drawn toward the driving-shaft 5 4:, thereby more or lesswinding up the spring 23 on the shaft 22 by means of the engagement ofthe pinion 21 with said rack, and consequently when the rack is freedsaid spring opcrates to draw it in a direction from said driving-shaft,thereby tightening the driving-band 17 and causing it to so remain, thespring 23 constantly acting to cause the rack 19 to so move as to takeup any slacknesswhich may be occasioned by the stretching of thedrivingband.

When an endless band, asabove set forth,

is used for driving the spindles of a spinningframe, and is combinedwith suitable mechanism for taking up the slack occasioned by thestretching of said band and for maintaining substantially an unvaryingtension between the driving-shaft and the spindle-whirls, manyinconveniences which arise from the use of single bands--one for eachspindle-are obviated- 2 5 as, for instance, the time required for thefrequent tying up of the ends of broken single bands on a machine andfrequently replacing old by new ones, and consequent stoppage of themachine while such changes and repairs are being made, and the variabletension which always exists among the many bands of the machine when thespindles are handed up singly, whereby the twist which the varioussingle-banded spindles impartvto the yarn is far from uniform, whereasby the use of the above-described endless band and regulating devices a.uniform twist is produced by all the spindles which are run thereby.

The driving-band 17 is run in the direction shown between the whirls cof the spindles and the pulleys athat is to say, crossed in the rear ofeach whirlin order to give the band a contact with as much of theperiphery of each whirl as possible, in order to permit of running thedriving'band as slack as may 5 be, to obviate undue friction between thespindles and their bearings by lateral strain.

What I claim as my invention is-- The spindles 5, provided with theusual whirls, c, the shaft 4, having driving-pulleys 5o thereon, theguide-pulleys 6, the endless spindle-driving band 17, engaging with saiddriving-pulleys, spindlewhirls, and guide-pulleys, combined with the box18, the rack 19, having an endwise movement in said box,the idlerpulley20, hung to rotate on said rack and engaging with said band, the shaft22, having a pinion thereon engaging with said rack, and the spring 23,engaging with said shaft and box, substantially as set forth.

ARTHUR MODONALD.

\Vitnesses:

G. M. CHAMBERL kIN, H. A. OHAPIN.

